£16.10–£21.50, Vinvm, Winoship, Rodney Fletcher Vintners, Cellar Door Wines, Lekker Wines
It’s not a very fashionable style, but I love dry Semillon. Or, to be more specific, dry Semillon with some bottle age made from venerable vines, so that it combines a smooth, lanolin texture with citrus intensity and zing.
I don’t mind where the wine comes from – Australia, Chile, South Africa, France – or whether it’s oaked, like the Vergelegen Reserve, or unoaked like classic Hunter Valley Semillon; just as long as the vines and wines have been nurtured.
The grapes for the Vergelegen 2020 were from a block planted in 2003 and another planted in 1993, which is enough to give the vines quality and character, although some way short of the 61 Semillon vineyards listed in the Old Vine Registry (a fascinating and useful global directory), where the oldest Semillon vineyard is 173 years of age and the youngest is 38 years.
The whole bunches of the 2020 were pressed without de-stemming or crushing and the juice was fermented and aged in French oak barriels for nine months with regular lees stirring. It was bottled in December 2020: a grand total of 6,400 bottles.
Four and a bit years later, the mouth-filling lanolin texture is set with vibrant grapefruit, juicy pear and a suggestion of herbs and honey and discreetly layered with oak spice. It’s complex, long and perfect for drinking now but could be cellared for another eight years.
It pairs with simple, rich or spicy seafood, such as Thai-style crab cakes or salmon with hollandaise sauce, as well as with asparagus with hollandaise, lightly spicy pork dishes and even the much-loved South African bobotie, a Cape-Malay dish based on minced meat with spices and dried fruit that I have recently written about for my At the Table series in The World of Fine Wine. 14%. Empty bottle weight 584g.
Vergelegen Reserve Semillon 2020, Stellenbosch, South Africa
£16.10–£21.50, Vinvm, Winoship, Rodney Fletcher Vintners, Cellar Door Wines, Lekker Wines